Tom Gem

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Others may disagree, but if you’re arriving to Bangkok from India, the city is a clean, modern and a hassle free utopia. We avoided the Khao San road and stayed in the Asha Guesthouse, near Saphan Kwai skytrain station. The accommodation was great and we immediately began to relax as we were free from the hassle of rickshaw drivers, touts and traders. Bangkok does have them, but if you refuse their services they just smile and leave you alone. We spent a couple of days exploring the city, visiting the night markets, Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha. The bright colours and intricate art work of the Wat Phra Kaew was refreshing after the drabness of Mumbai. Our mood lifted dramatically in those first couple of days and we realised it wasn’t travelling we’d grown tired of, ... read more

We arrived late into Mumbai and got a taxi straight to our hotel (Pals Hotel). We'd booked our hotel through the internet and knew it was a little bit out of the way but the reviews were ok and it was cheap for Mumbai. In the morning, when we left to explore, we quickly realised that they don't get too many foreign visitors in this neighbourhood. Everybody had a curious face as if to ask ‘what are you doing here’? The young kids playing in the street stood motionless, staring as if we'd just landed on a space ship. We strolled up to an intersection, sharing pleasantries with the bemused locals and jumped into a cab and headed for the Fort Area. The first thing to strike us about Mumbai was the noise. Taxi's, trucks, buses ... read more

Back on the road, our first stop was the capital Wellington. Wellington airport is apparently one of the hardest international airports to land at; being short, surrounded by water and subject to strong cross winds. Our plane appeared to drop rather than land and Tom was effing and blinding that he’d never fly into this ‘bloody city’ again. We were picked up by a friend of a friend of Gemma’s called Charlotte. She lived in the suburb of Melrose. Her house sat on a hill and had a veranda with a great view over the city, one of the city’s beaches and the airport that had tormented Tom earlier. Charlotte very kindly put us up for three days and cooked up a mean pot of mussels. It was the first bank holiday weekend of spring when ... read more

Our night bus arrived into Angra dos Reis before dawn. The fishing village is the main port for transport to Ilha Grande 10km off the coast. As we walked down to the harbour, the sun was struggling to rise over the back of the island and the town was illuminated by an eerie blueness as the moon light reflecting off the morning mist. We had to walk across a large car park populated by hundreds of large black birds. They looked half vulture, half crow and waddled away as we walked between them. The birds then started to squawk excitedly as the silhouetted fishing boats entered the misty harbour. The scene was reminiscent of the start of an old horror film. The cheaper public ferry didn't leave until 3pm so, despite Gemma's frugal nature, we shelled ... read more